Review of CalendarBudget: Free Online Budget Software

CalendarBudget is a free web-based online budget calendar application that lets you track your spending today and plan your budget for up to 20 years into the future. It offers an online calendar with income, expenses and a running balance of all accounts combined for each day. You can switch between views for individual accounts or all accounts using the tabs at the top of the screen, too.

Creating Financial Reports in CalendarBudget

CalendarBudget provides financial reporting from the sidebar and a "Reports" module at the top of the screen. The sidebar is populated with color-coded spending categories and the amount available for spending in each category or the amount overspent. Click a tab above the sidebar to see high and low monthly account balances, as well as surpluses and deficits for budgeted categories.

The Reports module has graphical reports selections for monthly spending by category, as well as spending trends over the last six months. There's also an option to create a printable PDF of the calendar and to export data to a CSV file for a spreadsheet analysis of your finances.

Importing Transactions in CalendarBudget

There is no automated transaction importing function in CalendarBudget, but you can import transactions from an OFX (Open Financial Exchange) file or Quicken's QFX file, which most financial institutions provide through online banking. If you've been using automatic downloads in financial software, you may miss this feature.

Former Adaptu users can easily migrate their financial data to CalendarBudget using the import wizard that was designed just for them.

Working With Transactions in CalendarBudget

CalendarBudget does not handle transactions in individual account registers but instead uses calendars to represent financial accounts. To enter a transaction, click on the date the transaction occurred on the calendar and enter the details, including the account used, the budget category and whether this is a repeating expense or income item.

Alerts, Reminders, and Bookmarks on CalendarBudget

You can set CalendarBudget to send budget calendar reminders through email for upcoming bills, important announcements, or to schedule a time to do budget plan updates. These reminders are called alerts, not to be confused with the alerts located on the sidebar.

CalendarBudget has a bookmark feature for returning easily to any date on the calendar. Set a bookmark for a date from the Settings menu, then return to that date using the drop-down Bookmarks list located at the upper-right part of the screen.

CalendarBudget Support and Membership

Help options for using CalendarBudget are listed under the Help link at the top of the screen, along with FAQs, videos and a community forum to find other users who can help answer your questions about CalendarBudget. You can also find an online form for contacting CalendarBudget support directly.

The 21-Day Budgeting Habit Installer Video library explains how to use all these features in short videos. You can watch them all or choose the ones that address the topic you're most interested in.